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Members of the Leadership Wilkes-Barre team Leaders on Deck, from left, are Katie Eltringham, Christina Krommes, David Campbell, Elizabeth Swantek and Sarah Zinga. Also participating are Elise Dubin, Glenn Lawless, Michelle Reed, David Morris and Deandra Fallon.

WILKES-BARRE - Year after year, Leadership Wilkes-Barre challenges its members to find creative ways to address the needs of their communities.

They've spent months honing their leadership skills, and now the members of the Leadership Wilkes-Barre Core Program Class of 2013 are ready to take the wheel of their own Community Impact Projects.

"The energy and enthusiasm the members of this class have displayed is inspiring," said Lori Nocito, executive director of Leadership Wilkes-Barre.

Their enthusiasm has led to five different projects designed by the members of the class.

"It's always interesting to see their ideas," Nocito said, "This year is no exception."

The projects range from revitalizing flood damaged areas of Greater Pittston to introducing new technology into nursing homes.

Rob Belza, vice president of corporate sales for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, is part of the team for the Greater Pittston Tomorrow project. The team will focus on three projects to improve the Greater Pittston area: revitalizing Montgomery Avenue Park after it was damaged in the flood of 2011, renovating the after-school room at the Pittston YMCA, and helping to re-establish the city's band shell.

"Most groups are only doing one project," Belza said, "We might have been overzealous to attempt three, but we're ahead of schedule on all of them."

Belza said Montgomery Avenue Park was "totally underwater" during the flood of 2011, causing the electrical breaker to fail and leaving the park without any lights in operation.

Already ahead of schedule, Belza and his team have secured a solution to the first of many issues they will address. Kuharchick Construction in Exeter has donated and replaced the electrical box free of charge.

"It's a prime example of locals helping the community," Belza said of the donation, "It's not always about the money."

A new band shell drew the focus of another team working to clean up and revitalize Wilkes-Barre's Public Square. Cecilia Baress, features and Jumpstart! editor at The Citizens' Voice, is working with her team on their project, Pride in Public Square.

"We're trying to promote the square as the centerpiece of downtown that it is," she said.

Baress notes Public Square draws people in during the summer months thanks to events like the Farmers Market and Fine Arts Fiesta, but the increased foot traffic causes "wear and tear" on the space that has yet to be addressed.

She and her team will work to beautify the square by hosting a cleanup day in April. They hope to involve members of the community and work with local colleges on tasks such as replacing worn patches of grass, trimming trees, and improving the soil in the planters surrounding the square.

"We want to make it (the square) something downtown residents can support and be proud of," Baress said.

Their work does not stop with cleanup. The Pride in Public Square team will work to establish a permanent band shell to replace the mobile band shell that was destroyed in a storm after the City of Wilkes-Barre loaned it out for Forty Fort's 125th anniversary celebration.

"We're all emotionally invested in the idea of the square as a centerpiece," she said, "We're very dedicated to this project and seeing it through to the end."

While these projects mainly seek to improve community centers used by the general public, other Leadership Wilkes-Barre teams chose to focus their efforts on specific people within their communities.

Laurie Chiumento and her team will help victims of domestic violence through their project FIRE: Freedom for Innocent Rights Everywhere. They will work with Domestic Violence Service Center in Wilkes-Barre to raise funds for the center's needs, mainly dishwashers, new carpeting and fresh paint for the walls.

A fresh look and some new appliances may not seem like much, but Chiumento knows what these little touches can do for the center's visitors.

"We want to make the environment more comforting and home-like for the people who come to the center," she said.

The center serves more and more people each year. In the year 2011 alone, the center reported 2,007 new recipients of care, 8,183 hours of counseling at the center and 3,984 hotline calls.

Chiumento said fundraising is not the team's only goal. "We also want to raise awareness of domestic violence so people in leadership roles will be more aware of the problem."

To support the FIRE project and the center's mission, Chiumento and her team will host a fundraiser and comedy night Feb. 15 at Wisecrackers.

Leadership Wilkes-Barre often strives to create new relationships throughout the community, and the Leaders on Deck team has started a new project to promote the Wyoming Valley Challengers Little League Baseball team.

The Wyoming Valley Challengers are part of a national division of the Little League Baseball Organization established to enable children with developmental or physical challenges to play and enjoy the game of baseball.

David Campbell of the Leaders on Deck will promote the team's registration days on Feb. 23 and March 2, raising awareness of the service the team can provide for children.

"If we're able to promote this organization, the people who can take advantage of it will know about it," he said.

The Wyoming Valley Challengers currently have 50 players, but Christina Krommes, another Leaders on Deck member, said she hopes to see this number grow.

"There are a lot more kids whose parents may not know this exists for them," she said.

The Leaders on Deck team has events in the works to achieve the awareness portion of their project. They will host a Wiffle ball tournament to benefit the team in Wilkes University's Recreation and Athletic Center on March 3.

Campbell hopes this event will provide the boost in awareness and registration his team is working toward, along with a memorable experience for the Wyoming Valley Challengers players.

"The end goal is to create a long-lasting experience the kids will never forget," he said.

While the Wyoming Valley Challengers create connections on the field, another project group will improve connections between families by introducing new technology to four Wyoming Valley nursing homes.

Video Kinections will provide nursing home residents with CanConnect, software designed to make the Internet video conferencing software more accessible with a touchscreen interface. The user simply selects a photo of a loved one and creates an instantaneous connection.

With this program, patients at the equipped nursing homes will be able to see and speak with family and friends whom they may not have had the ability to do so in the past.

"You can give grandparents the ability to watch their grandchildren grow up even from hours and hours away," said Roderick Blaine, Video Kinections member.

The group recognized this need after hearing the personal experience of member Tony McGinley. His father's nursing home was too far away to visit in person on a regular basis, and McGinley wanted to find a way to spend more time talking with him.

"We thought it was a great idea and something we hadn't heard of before," Blaine said, "It was innovative."

The group will provide each of the four nursing homes with mobile carts and touch-screen computers to make their innovative idea a reality. In order to support their efforts, they have planned a mixer at Brews Brothers in Luzerne on March 14. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $20 and include a chance to win the use of a luxury box for a hockey game at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Nocito noted that while each of these projects have very different goals, they are different in the best way possible.

"Each project is so unique that the community will really benefit," she said.

For updates on projects and fundraisers, or to register for next year's Leadership Wilkes-Barre program, go to www.leadershipwilkes-barre.org.

sscinto@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2056

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